The Thaumaturgy Department

(It's dramaturgy, not thaumaturgy.)

Gavin
CENTERSTAGE
Baltimore
Maryland
USA

thaumaturg
Main Entry: thau·ma·turg
Pronunciation: \ˈthȯ-mə-ˌtərj\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from New Latin thaumaturgus, from Greek thaumatourgos working miracles, from thaumat-, thauma miracle + ergon work — more at Theater, Work

2011-2012 Season:
The Second City: Charmed and Dangerous
The Rivals
American Buffalo
Jazz
A Skull in Connemara
Into the Woods
The Whipping Man
Play Labs
Cabarets

The official blog of the Dramaturgy Department at Baltimore's CENTERSTAGE. For posts related to our current and upcoming shows, click the links to the right. Alternatively, you could begin at the beginning, and explore our posts in chronological order.

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Original "Little Red" goes back Into the Woods

Rehearsal video and interview with Danielle Ferland, who appeared in the original Broadway production of Into the Woods as Little Red—now returning as the Baker’s Wife in Mark Lamos’ co-production between CENTERSTAGE and Westport Country Playhouse.

Tags | into the woods | stephen sondheim | mark lamos | rehearsal | video | danielle ferland | little red riding hood | fairy tale | folk tale | musical theater

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“ In the heart of the black community,and among some of the oldest neighborhoods in The City of West Palm Beach, at the intersection of Tamarind Avenue and 25th Street, sits a 1 1/2 acre lot containing the remains of some 674 unidentified men, women, and children; victims of The Great Okeechobee Hurricane. They were migrant farmers and laborers of western Palm Beach County. Mostly blacks, they were segregated even in death and were interred without coffins, as wood was reserved for whites only.
Florida author Zora Neale Hurston described the mass burial in her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God: “… Don’t let me ketch none uh y’all dumpin’ white folks, and don’t be wastin’ no boxes on colored,” a guard in the book says. “They’s too hard tuh git ahold of right now.”
In life, they helped turn a South Florida swamp into a booming tropical mecca. In death, they were pitched into a trench, and left to be ignored for three-quarters of a century, neglected and nearly forgotten for almost three-quarters of a decade. Lord, Somebody Got Drowned on Vimeo

Tags | zora neale hurston | their eyes were watching god | gleam | research | video | disaster | florida | african american | history

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Lord, Somebody Got Drowned (by Daniel Cheatham)

Tags | their eyes were watching god | zora neale hurston | video | gleam | research | production dramaturgy | okeechobee hurricane | disaster | florida | history | african american

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Skull-smashing fun

How to make and break some bones.

Tags | skull in connemara | Martin McDonagh | props | design | centerstage | production | video | violence

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CENTERSTAGE patrons talk about their relationship with the theater and recall memories of favorite shows.

CENTERSTAGE - MY CENTERSTAGE (by drury bynum)

Tags | centerstage | theater | video | baltimore

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Trailers to Tempt the Theatergoer

How do you make the experience of live theater pop on film in a way that makes a potential ticket buyer say, “I’ve got to see that”? Television commercials are a mainstay, but expensive. Trailers — which can run longer than 15 or 30 seconds and be widely distributed — are increasingly being used to promote theater, but producing them is still a challenge in terms of style, access and cost.

Tags | theater | marketing | promotion | video

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“Dammit, Mamet”: proud to be a white guy—the American Buffalo rap video

(not for the verbally faint-of-heart)

Tags | David Mamet | american buffalo | rap | video | performance | music video | profanity

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[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

Last year CENTERSTAGE presented the Lookingglass Theatre adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days (Jules Verne). True to Verne’s original, there was no balloon travel, though there was an exquisitely imagined escape-by-elephant. Now, somewhat belatedly, comes this handy advice on how (or maybe how NOT) to mount and ride a mighty pachyderm.

Tags | centerstage | Lookingglass | around the world in 80 days | Jules Verne | elephant | video | funny | adaptations

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"Go For Broke!" link to full-length Hollywood feature about the 442nd

link to full-length Hollywood feature about the 442nd Regiment and their service in World War 2.

Tags | snow falling on cedars | japanese | Veterans | military | video | history | research | dramaturgy

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With ReEntry entering its final week at CENTERSTAGE, we are particularly looking forward to Thursday’s livestream/simulcast, which will broadcast the show all over the country to bars, classrooms, hospitals, bases, and many other facilities. If you’re reading this before December 16, 2011 and you’re interested in clicking in for the stream, email dhendersonATcenterstageDOTorg for info. The 90-minute show will be followed by an hourlong post-show panel discussion, also streamed live—and we can take your questions “on air.”

aggroskull:

“Marines about to go into battle. Some were standing watch, some readied equipment, some slept or rested, but all were quiet. No nervous jabbering, no false bravado, no whining, no melodramatics… they were professionals.”
—2nd Lieutenant “Vic” Taylor, on “the Magnificent Bastards

With ReEntry entering its final week at CENTERSTAGE, we are particularly looking forward to Thursday’s livestream/simulcast, which will broadcast the show all over the country to bars, classrooms, hospitals, bases, and many other facilities. If you’re reading this before December 16, 2011 and you’re interested in clicking in for the stream, email dhendersonATcenterstageDOTorg for info. The 90-minute show will be followed by an hourlong post-show panel discussion, also streamed live—and we can take your questions “on air.”

“Marines about to go into battle. Some were standing watch, some readied equipment, some slept or rested, but all were quiet. No nervous jabbering, no false bravado, no whining, no melodramatics… they were professionals.”

—2^nd Lieutenant “Vic” Taylor, on “the Magnificent Bastards

(Source: killweakness, via usmc75-deactivated20120207)

Tags | Reentry | USMC | Marines | wounded warrior | centerstage | simulcast | video | Post-show

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[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

This is from a little while ago, but here’s a wonderful little video snippet of CENTERSTAGE Artistic Director Irene Lewis talking about stage violence—apropos most directly of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, but applicable more generally to her 20-season tenure.

Tags | centerstage | irene lewis | violence | death | Blood | 'tis pity she's a whore | video

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Just because…. “Anarchy in the UK” live, feat. the Sex Pistols

Tags | sex pistols | anarchy in the uk | punk rock | johnny rotten | video

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A quick look back to lighten things up: behind-the-scenes video for The Wiz, including rehearsals, actor & audience interviews, performance footage—and even a clip of some stripper-pole training and choreography. It’s ALL in there.

Tags | wiz | rehearsal | video | trailer | centerstage | actors | choreography | dance

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Much more light-hearted music video…carrier life.

Tags | Reentry | navy | video | funny

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“Music video” of Marines during Operation Phantom Fury, Fallujah, 2004.

Tags | Reentry | USMC | Veterans | video

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